Florida School Board Shooting: Clay Duke Opens Fire During Meeting

On Tuesday December 14th Clay Duke, entered a Bay District school board meeting and took members of the school board hostage, at gunpoint. Before brandishing his gun, 56 year old Clay Duke, wrote the letter "V" with a circle around it in red, on the wall. The same symbol used in the graphic novel and movie, V for Vendetta. He blamed the school board members for the loss of his wife's job and then pulled out a gun and ordered the women to leave the room.

Board member Ginger Littleton, who had left the room when instructed, returned and attempted to sneak up behind Clay Duke and knock the gun from his hand with her purse.  Clay Duke hit her with his pistol and then let her leave the room again. Nadine Yanis, a reporter for a local news station in Panama City said that, "If he wanted to kill her at that moment he could have, and he didn't."

Clay Duke then went on a rant for several minutes, complaining about the loss of his wife's job and a sales tax increase, as Superintendent Bill Husfelt attempted to calm him down. "I'm going to die tonight," said Clay Duke several times throughout his rant and repeated it once more just before firing his gun at the Superintendent. Clay Duke fired several more shots at the members of the board, saying "I'm gonna kill..... don't you understand." Fortunately, all of Clay Duke's shots missed and after firing four rounds he was shot in the leg by Mike Jones, a district security officer and former police detective. Clay Duke then turned his gun on himself.



None of the members of the school board were injured during the shooting.

John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my comic strip and other writings at www.theforceofnature.net

Bellagio Robbery: Armed Gunmen Robs Las Vegas Casino

An armed man entered the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas today and walked off with 1.5 million dollars worth of chips.  Despite Las Vegas casino's being renowned for their security, the robbery that took place on Tuesday, December 14th, was relatively simple.  The armed gunman rode up on his motorcycle and parked it at the entrance to the casino.  He then walked into the casino, approached a craps table and revealed his gun demanding the chips.  He then walked out of the casino and rode of on his motorcycle.  The gunmen kept his helmet on the entire time and so can't be identified.



The robbery may not be the gunman's first, a similar robbery occurred on December 9th at the Suncoast casino. In that incident the gunman only got away with 20,000 dollars.

John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my comic strip at www.theforceofnature.net

Aumsville, Oregon: Unlikely Tornado

Aumsville, Oregon, was the victim of an unlikely tornado today.  The tornado touched down at around noon on Tuesday, December 14th, leaving part of the town demolished.  Jim Kusz, the public information office for the North Lincoln Fire and Rescue reported that, "Nobody was injured.  Nobody was staying in the second floor rooms."  Citizens are being advised to avoid the areas where damage has occurred due to dangers from fallen power lines and crumbling buildings.  The Red Cross has responded and will most likely establish a shelter for displaced citizens of the town.  A suitable location must be found first though, fortunately only a region of the town was damaged by the twister.

John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my daily comic at www.theforceofnature.net

Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson Split

Stop the presses: some extremely important information needs to be reported (sorry for still being in a cynical blogger mood, college student + finals = lots of sarcasm and bias). There has been another celebrity break-up. This one is a little bit more important than Zac and Vanessa, because both of these celebrities are hot commodities, and they were married.

Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson are said to have split up. The two were married late 2008, and apparently someone told People Magazine that the two have been separated for six months. Awesome, they are both back on the market.

The two were always quiet about their married life, maybe that was for the better. It's always sad when the loud boisterous couples who show off their love and talk about each other 24/7 end up splitting - because then they are constantly reminded of all those sweetsy cutesy things that end up being reposted and shown on television. So, it's probably good to keep a low profile.

Another news source talking about this is The Sydney Morning Herald - in Australia. (Oh, it is morning over there!) Australia news sources are already reporting about this! C'mon America - get with it. When the two news sources reporting this include People Magazine and an Australian publication there is a problem. What could be more important for CNN to report about than this ending relationship?! Okay, the sarcasm ends here - in fear that someone might actual believe these statements.

Back to work for the college student - last touches on an feature article.

Mayor Timothy Davlin Found Dead

The mayor of Springfield, Illinois, Timothy Davlin, was found dead in his home.

NPR reports that the details of his death are still being investigated and that Police Chief Robert Williams says that the situation is very dynamic and still evolving.

However, Fox News has decided to already report and say that Davlin committed suicide. Way to show respect for the dead. The lack of respect also is shown to the family, because other news sources have not released such information, but Fox News is willing to put in a headline that this was a suicide. It is reported that according to the State-Journal Register that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but all the details are not currently released to the public. Fox also makes sure that everyone reading the article knows that this man, Davlin, was a Democrat.

There are a lot more controversial things that can be said about Davlin including that he missed his court appearance and the charges that he faced - but instead this will just inform that he has been found dead in his home and hopefully it can all be figured out.

Richard Holbrooke Has Died At 69: Torn Aorta

Richard Holbrooke, the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, a key player in President Obama's Afghanistan war strategy and relationships there, has died at 69 years of age.

Holbrooke's passing came after surgery.

Politico had reported that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Holbrooke was in "stable but still in very critical condition." He had just sustained 20 hours of surgery for a torn Aorta. The most common cause of a torn Aorta is High Blood Pressure.

Holbrooke has served three presidents, and been involved in American Foreign policy at some level, almost since he left college at Brown University in 1962 (photo by Brown University). He is survived by his wife, Kati Marton.

U-Cubed to Unemployed: Pour it On...NOW

In an urgent email sent out to all Leaders and Activists today, U-Cubed advised all unemployed Americans to “Pour it On!”

The email in it’s entirety reads:

Dear UCubed Leaders and Activists:

Pour it on. Email Congress. Send Letters to the Editor … every day, twice a day, even hourly. Congress is giving $540 billion – over half a trillion dollars – in tax breaks to corporations and wealthy Americans. And yet, this tax deal contains not a dime for the 99ers, not a penny for direct job creation.

Clog their inboxes. You can find the UCubed Legislative Action links here, here, and here.

Congress plans to adjourn this Friday, December 17th. So pour it on! NOW!

The email was sent “In Unity -- Strength”, by Rick Sloan [Acting Executive Director of U-Cubed Union of Unemployed]

If you have not yet joined U-Cubed, http://www.unionofunemployed.com/ it is free and there is great strength in numbers of Americans working toward the same goals - Jobs for Americans and until those jobs are available - UI benefits for ALL Unemployed (not just the more recent members of the jobless community in this country). When you get there, send me Paladinette a Friend Request.

Every unemployed American, their friends and family need to PLEASE contact your congressional House member immediately and often. Do NOT stop contacting them until they hear you loud and clear.

My advice is NOT to waste your time contacting your senators, as they have already demonstrated by the HR 4853 test vote today on the Senate floor that they are not acting in the best interests of American Jobless workers.

Unemployed Non-99ers need to WAKE UP:

The unemployed in this country are being sold a bill of goods by the President, the media, phony pollsters and most members of Congress.



FACT: The 13 month extension in this compromise does NOT guarantee your benefits continue for the entire 13 months.

FACT: If you have exhausted all available Tiers of benefits already, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU AT ALL.

FACT: If you are on Tier 2 now (or soon will be) and your state does not meet the state UI % threshold for Tiers 3 and or 4, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU AT ALL and after 14 weeks of Tier 2 you will have no more UI at all.

FACT: If you are collecting in Tier 1 and your state does not meet the state UI % threshold for Tiers 3 and or 4, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU COLLECT past the additional 14 weeks of Tier 2.

FACT: If you are collecting now on your original 26 weeks of State benefits and your state does not meet the state UI % threshold for Tiers 3 and or 4, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU COLLECT past the additional 20 weeks in Tier 1 + 14 weeks of Tier 2 That = 36 weeks or a about 8 months NOT 13 Months.

If you think that 8 months is enough time to land a job in this terrible economy, just consider that millions of Americans have been unsuccessful in landing any job for well over 2.5 years of desperate searching. Including 9 months now without any UI benefits - of course I am referring to the 99ers.

A majority of House Democrats will likely oppose the Senate compromise on a tax bill expected to go to the House later this week, but Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Today he thinks it will ultimately pass.

Nancy Pelosi may hold the key to the only chance left for the 99ers to get some help out of this $900 billion giveaway, as she has indicated a refusal to bring the bill in it’s current form to the House floor without significant changes.

The Congressional Black Caucus is already on record as to being opposed to HR 4853 unless a Tier 5 amendment to aid the 99ers is added first.

Please splash the link to this article all over the net. Republish and reprint net wide with my blessing. Post on Twitter and Digg, Facebook, Myspace and whatever social media pages you have access to and where unemployed Americans can read.

You will find a complete list of all Congressional members, by state - their phone /fax numbers, party affiliation and district number at: http://joblessunite.yolasite.com/legislators-list.php

Now let’s get moving people!

[Please use the donation button below to help Paladinette to KEEP FIGHTING for the 99ers! Thank you.]